Global leaders arriving in Seoul for G20 summit

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- With the two-day G20 Seoul summit to be held very soon, heads of state from the globe and leaders of the international organizations have begun arriving in South Korea as of Wednesday.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika was the first leader to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday afternoon.

Malawi, a southeast African nation, is one of five non-G20 member countries that were invited to the G20 Seoul Summit.

By Wednesday night, the leaders of 14 countries, such as the United States President Barak Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, arrived Seoul respectively.

Meanwhile, delegations from international organizations also made their landings in Seoul, including the United Nations group led by the world body's chief Ban Ki-moon and the delegation of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headed by its Secretary-General Angel Gurria.

Other leaders, including heads of seven G20 member countries such as China and Japan, will arrive here on Thursday, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be the last one to land in Seoul on early Friday after he attends the ceremony for World War I Commemoration Day in his country.

With "Shared Growth Beyond Crisis" as its official slogan, the G20 Seoul Summit is to be attended by 32 heads of state and leaders of international organizations, who will discuss main issues including reform of the IMF and the finance sector, the establishment of financial safety nets, ways to address global imbalances and international cooperation on the exchange rate issue.